BUILDING BRIGHT FUTURES
Growing up, Durga envied the children she watched going to school.
Her father’s alcoholism meant that even when there was enough work to pay for school it got wasted. Not long after Durga’s 13th birthday, a human trafficker, posing as an employer, offered Durga’s father $60 as an advance on wages for his daughter.
Her father jumped at the chance.
What he didn’t know is that he’d never see his daughter again. Durga was taken far away from her village and enslaved in a rock quarry. For 4 years, she endured sleeping on rocks, being preyed upon by men in the quarry, and the worst working conditions imaginable.
One day, an older slave women whispered “They’re coming to rescue you in four days.”
In that moment everything began to change for Durga.
. . .
Millions of children in South Asia like Durga have suffered through unimaginable circumstances with little hope of ever building bright futures. In rural South Asia, literacy is the single most valuable tool to find freedom, but for many children in our care, even before slavery and abuse, learning to read and write was something they were never even allowed to dream about. Your support is helping these rescued children rebuild their lives and create successful futures.
All of the children in our care are enrolled in school where they’re learning the basic skills they need for life.
Hungry for new life, the rescued children dedicate themselves to learning and thrive in the classroom. They learn to read, write, and how to be children again. When they are old enough, students have the opportunity to enter our vocational training and apprenticeship program where they are trained in a trade like tailoring or construction. Here, they are equipped to live free from the shackles of poverty.
With meaningful work, these young adults can own their futures and have chances in life their parents never even dreamed of having.
Our business partners in South Asia help students find job placements in safe environments. What’s amazing is that these rescued children now adults give back. Armed with a passion to right the wrongs done to others, they voluntarily and sacrificially support the work being done at the Sylom Children’s Home, so that others can know freedom. This work is on a path to self sustainability, and we know that one day, it will be fully funded by successful working adults who were once children trapped in slavery.
. . .
As promised, all the children were snuck out of the quarry through a hole in the electric fence.
They walked barefoot for 3 miles to a waiting truck. Durga was cared for in a church while she recovered her strength and met people who cared for her. Eventually, she came to the Sylom Children’s Home and finally got to go to school.
Today, Durga is attending classes where she is learning to become a seamstress.
She owns her future.
She loves Jesus for rescuing her, and she hopes to send $10 a month of her wages to rescue and care for other children in slavery.
. . .
Our summer goal of obtaining scholarships for girls like Durga stems directly from our goal of sustainability.
By providing scholarships, we’re able to launch more students into jobs. These students are leading and making a difference in their work, but also in their unique tie to Praveen and the other children.
Help us meet our goal of 23 students by donating today.
Your support has provided scholarships for 17 students this summer, and that means we’re only 6 students (and $9,000) away from our goal.
You can make stories like Durga’s possible. just click “donate now” at the top of this page and specify that you’d like to give to vocational training.
(And if you’ve already provided a scholarship like Durga’s, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.)